1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method to monitor particles removed from a component.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Precision optical, mechanical, and electronic components for use in electro-optical, electro-mechanical, electronic systems, and combinations thereof, need to be cleaned prior to assembly, in order to reduce the amount of contaminant particles that are introduced into these often highly sensitive systems. Further, it is important to be able to monitor, count, and characterize removed contaminant particles from the components that are utilized in such systems. This is especially true for highly sensitive storage systems, such as disk drives.
Today, many contaminant particle removal and monitoring systems utilize liquid solvents and ultrasonic energy in order to remove and monitor contaminant particles. For example, in these types of systems, a component is typically suspended in a liquid solvent and ultrasonic energy is applied to remove particles from the component. The solvent is then processed through a liquid particle counter for the counting, measurement, and binning of the various removed contaminant particles based upon particle size. This information may then be analyzed such that the number and sizes of contaminant particles removed from a particular component can be characterized.
Unfortunately, this commonly-used liquid solvent method, which utilizes ultrasonic energy, is frequency and power dependent and may either be ineffective at particle removal and/or may erode the very component that is being cleaned. Further, this type of liquid solvent particle removal process for a component does not correlate well to the actual particle release from the component in the system as occurs in normal operation. Moreover, the use of liquid solvents, such as chlorofluorocarbons and ketones, are environmentally hazardous and require numerous environmental safety procedures.